The Morning Heresy 10/19/12: Now Pork-Free!

October 19, 2012

Your daily digest of news and links relevant to the secular and skeptic communities.

CFI's Michael De Dora heralds the news that a bloc of Islamic nations is dropping is efforts to lobby the UN to adopt binding blasphemy laws, but cautions:

. . . concerned secularists should not sit back and relax. As evidenced in the Center for Inquiry's new report "Dissent Denied," many countries around the world simply international agreements and have in place blasphemy laws that punish innocent people for victimless crimes. But also, the OIC has signaled that, instead of pushing for a blasphemy ban, it will appeal to member states to apply hate speech laws to criticism of religion.

Speaking of free expression, Michael joined the panel on HuffPost Live to talk about Twitter's recent censoring of a neo-Nazi group in Germany.

Greta Christina opens up about a new challenge for her: A cancer diagnosis. She asks for some help, and the atheosphere is responding.

James Croft illustrates why "coming out" evangelical is not the same as coming out as gay:

When I walk down the street holding my boyfriend’s hand I am not worried that someone will write a strongly-worded article mocking my choice in partner – I am afraid that someone will shout vile epithets, follow us with violent abuse, attack us, kill us.

The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals rules the Defense of Marriage Act to be unconstitutional.

(That is a nominee for the most silly-sounding sentence I've ever written.)

Preacher who pesters university students succumbs to peer pressure and leaves.

NCSE is encouraged by a new report on American attitudes about the reality of climate change.

Evangelist Alex McFarland says that Christianity is losing ground to secularism because in the 1970s the churches failed to accept the hippies.

Be Scofield at HuffPo, while mainly encouraged by Atheism+, sees problems:

It's problematic for the most vocal proponents of Atheism+ and its social justice agenda to also be the quickest to either want to destroy or refuse to take seriously the "refuge" that religion can play.

Trying to make a case for Florida's Amendment 8, Dea Wilkins makes the following false claim about the Council for Secular Humanism:

Based on the current law, the Council for Secular Humanism has mounted a constitutional challenge to a prison ministry. If successful, it will deny that ministry the ability to deliver much-needed services to those who are incarcerated, simply because of the faith-basis of the organization. This is discriminatory on its face and underscores the need to protect the time-honored tradition of government–nonprofit partnerships which can efficiently provide services for the most needy in our communities.

Wrong! The Council's suit has to do with faith-based institutions that are using public funds for sectarian purposes, not secular purposes.

Sean Lawrence Otto in SciAm on the existential danger of anti-science attitudes in US politics:

By falsely equating knowledge with opinion, postmodernists and antiscience conservatives alike collapse our thinking back to a pre-Enlightenment era, leaving no common basis for public policy. Public discourse is reduced to endless warring opinions, none seen as more valid than another. Policy is determined by the loudest voices, reducing us to a world in which might makes right—the classic definition of authoritarianism.

Linking to a story or webpage does not imply endorsement by Paul or CFI. Not every use of quotation marks is ironic or sarcastic, but it often is.

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Paul Fidalgo has been communications director of the Center for Inquiry since 2012. He holds a master’s degree in political management from George Washington University, and has worked previously for FairVote: The Center for Voting and Democracy and the Secular Coalition for America. Paul is also an actor and musician whose work includes five years performing with the American Shakespeare Center. He lives in Maine with his wife and kids. His blog at the Patheos network is iMortal, and he tweets at @paulfidalgo.